Middlesex County initiated the formation of the New Jersey Shared Services Association (NJSSA) to facilitate coordination between counties throughout the state and to advocate as one body for policy, regulations and legislation.
Maria M. Sirimis, director of the Middlesex County Shared Services Department, has been named the group’s president.
“The state association is building a statewide network at the county level to do what counties do best: use the information we share with each other to help save local and county taxpayer dollars,” she said. “The groundwork we lay now, especially in promoting and advocating for shared services, will set the stage for future savings as well.”
Gary LaVenia, of Burlington County, and Linda Murphy, of Morris County, were named vice presidents.
GinaMarie Santore of Camden County was named Treasurer and Corporate Secretary.
“The NJSSA has proved to be a valuable forum where counties share data and experiences which, in turn, enable us to provide a statewide perspective when assisting local government units,” said Santore, Camden County’s Shared Services assistant director.
Middlesex County Freeholder H. James Polos, who has spearheaded many of the county’s existing shared services initiatives, encouraged other counties to join the association.
Middlesex County already utilizes the Cooperative Purchasing Program, which takes advantage of bulk pricing and economies of scale to save on items such as rock salt, office and janitorial supplies, and even electricity and natural gas. Every municipality and several school districts, fire districts, agencies and authorities participate in the program.
Seventeen counties are now represented.
“We have a number of programs here in Middlesex County that are saving real taxpayer dollars,” Polos said. “I’m sure there are initiatives in other counties that we may be able to use here. The more information we share, the more progress we can all make.”
The member counties are: Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Salem, Somerset, Sussex and Union.
Each member of the new association is either a director or coordinator for a county shared-services program. Fourteen counties received grants of $300,000 from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to help them expand sharedservices initiatives between counties, towns, and fire and school districts. The reasoning being the program is that if certain services are shared across geographic borders, money can be saved.
TheMiddlesex County Shared Services Department was formed in 2007 by the freeholder board when the state DCA grant, which has a three-year term, was received.